Video: On the Red Carpet for SUMMER, 1976 Opening Night

Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World

Laura Linney and Jessica Hecht are back on Broadway in David Auburn's new play, Summer 1976

directed by Daniel Sullivan. And we're here on opening night at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater

to catch up with the First Nighters. ♪♪ Well, first of all, it is opening night, Barry

How excited are you tonight? Completely over-the-moon thrilled. A wonderful, commissioned new play by David Auburn

directed by his longtime colleague, Daniel Sullivan, and particularly Laura Linney and Jessica Hecht

together on that stage. You can't ask for anything more. On a beautiful set designed by John Lee Beatty

who's done like a zillion shows for us. And it's also my last Broadway show

at the Manhattan Theater Club, so it's a special and poignant night for me as well

So this is a big year for you, right? This is a big year. This is my 50th season of being the Artistic Director

of the Manhattan Theater Club. Well, first of all, congratulations on that

That is a really big number, what you and Barry have done with Manhattan Theater Club

I've watched it from the very beginning of where it all started. Really? Oh, yeah

Really? Way back? Well, you would have started with me then in 1972

and it took me a couple of years to find Barry. But I hired him, and he has been with me for 48 years

and it's been an amazing partnership and an amazing theater, hasn't it

How did this play come about for you to write? It's really transformed in rehearsal

which in a way that I didn't expect. I thought that I had sort of written these plays with monologues in them. Yeah

And what it became is a dialogue. The whole show is really a conversation between them

So it grew into that relationship in a way that I had never really anticipated, and which I really love

Now, being in the room with those two actresses, what was that like for you

at the helm with Daniel Sullivan? It was just pure pleasure. I mean, usually you worry about lots and lots of things

going on in the production of a play. This one, I didn't have to worry about any of that

I had to worry about the script, but I knew everything else was going to be beautiful

Oh, I'm crazy excited. I know absolutely nothing about it, except that it's two of the best actresses

working these days, and ultimately that's why I go to theater. Isn't that great, a new David Orburn play

directed by Daniel Sullivan, starring Laura Linney and Jessica Hecht? Yes, it's an embarrassment of riches

I'm very, very excited. Well, we sure do love these two actresses

and we love David Orburn, and we love Dan Sullivan. How could we go wrong

And Manhattan Theater Club, of course. I think it's doomed. How excited are you two to be here tonight

Very excited. I mean, these two women, Laura Linney and Jessica Hecht

I mean, they're extraordinary. They're both friends, so we're just thrilled to see them both together on stage

I've been on stage with both of them, and I'm gigantic fans of both of them

and we're all, we're like family. It's family for us. Well, they're two of the finest actresses we have

and so, and Dan Sullivan directing, and an Auburn play, so I think we're in good shape here

I came because the summer of 1976 was very big for me

So I'm expecting a lot. I hope they mention me, actually. You'll have to wait and see

but was that the year you said, I'm gonna become an actor? It actually was. Was it really

Yeah, yeah, at the end of that summer was the first time I auditioned for a play

I, you know, Jessica is one of my dearest, dearest friends and one of my favorite artists

so the idea that I get to come, I'm a little playing hooky, but I'm excited to be here tonight

to see her do anything, and Laura I've worked with, I love her. I mean, I'm excited to see the two of them tear it up

How excited are the two of you to be here for summer 1976? I'm so excited

You know, both these performers are just amazing people that I know

and they're wonderful, they're fantastic, so I'm looking forward to seeing this play

I know nothing about it yet, but I wanna, I can't wait. But isn't that great to go to the theater

It's a brand new play. You just go and you go on a journey. Exactly, and like, you know

just who wouldn't wanna go and see those whole team that's a Manhattan Theater Club

and it's just wonderful work again, over and over again, and we're just, you know, we're looking forward to it

I love this theater, and I love those girls, and they're such wonderful actors

and I've worked with both the playwright and the director, so a Manhattan Theater Club is a huge home for me

so it's a gorgeous evening, and I'm psyched. Oh my gosh, you know, Dan Sullivan

was one of my teachers in grad school, and my first year is when David Auburn

won the Tony and the Pulitzer for Proof, and so being able to, and that was in Illinois

so being front row center for this opening, it feels like a full circle moment

and Dan is actually retiring from my alma mater this year, so I'm just so happy to celebrate them all

How excited are you to be here tonight for Summer of 1976? I cannot wait

I love both these actresses. I've never worked with Jessica, but I have worked with Laura

and I love Dan Sullivan, and I love this writer, so I'm really looking forward to it

I saw Goodnight Oscar last night, a brand new play, which I loved

which is fantastic, and then New York, New York tomorrow night. This is what New York is about

and that's why it's the greatest city in the world. Now it's like your career started here

really, at MTC, didn't it? Very much so. Yeah, very much so

So it must be so great. I mean, just talk about what this home of MTC has meant to you

It's such an unusual thing for a playwright, especially in the 21st century, to have a home

where you can return time after time, work with many of the same people

and have a kind of consistency in a career that otherwise is very up and down

and very uncertain, so it's a real life preserver in a lot of ways

You know, what's great is this city has so much talent in it

and so many wonderfully talented people have found their way to us repeatedly

and so many new people appear every year, so that's what keeps us all feeling vital

and remembering the excitement of live theater